


The Tactician

by inujuju



Series: Two Sides of the Same War [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Sburb/Sgrub Sessions, Alternia-Focused, Ashen Romance | Auspistice, BAMF Karkat, Blood Manipulation, Caliginous Romance | Kismesis, Humans on Alternia, Multi, Pale Romance | Moirallegiance, Rebellion, Red Romance, Slavery, Troll Politics, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-15
Updated: 2014-02-15
Packaged: 2018-01-12 14:26:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1188567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inujuju/pseuds/inujuju
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Despite having his friends to protect him, Karkat is still captured by the imperial drones because of his blood. Taken to Her Imperial Condescension Karkat is set to be culled within weeks.</p><p>With the disappearance of Karkat, his friends rise up against the imperial army to get revenge. With the aid of humans from the slavery ships and the Sufferer's cult they may stand a chance. A chance far greater than any expected.</p><p>The major problem to end the war lies the tactician who runs Her Imperial Condescension's army. One who seems determined to prolong the war.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Tactician

**Author's Note:**

> Her dur, war fics are my weakness. Enjoy :)

You never expected to reach eight sweeps but you did somehow. Your eyes aren’t as striking as your friends but that’s okay, the longer you can go as a rust blood the better.

The candy red of your blood is a well-guarded secret that would result in the death of you if it ever got out. Out of all the trolls on Alternia, only eleven know. You didn’t want them to find out but one thing led to another and suddenly they all knew. Terezi was always suspicious and Aradia found out far earlier than others but the two of them always had your back. It wasn’t until you took a blow to protect Gamzee from another troll that everyone found out.

You still have the scar from the rapier that sliced into your leg slits. They’re extremely sensitive and while the sopor slime has helped close the wound it never fully healed and probably won’t. It doesn’t bother you however, because if you hadn’t taken that blow you might have lost so much more.

Moirails, especially highblood ones, were hard to come by. Even more so when you’re a mutant fit for nothing but slaughter.

You don’t know what happened after that, having blacked out from the pain. Later Gamzee would find the courage to finally tell you how he lost his shit after you fainted. He ended up killing several other trolls, only stopping when Kanaya knocked him out. You lectured him after that but ended up forgiving him under the pretense that he wouldn’t forget what he’d done.

Even if he saw you as something special, you never believed your life was above others.

Perhaps that’s why your friends took the news so easily. After you woke up they were all still there, some in shock and others showing nothing but worry. Terezi stood beside you like a guardian to the others but it was soon obvious she wasn’t needed. They all accept you, to varying degrees. Equiss wasn’t sure what to make of you but Nepeta was there to remind him that just because you were a freak didn’t mean that you weren’t the same Vantas he always admired (you couldn’t believe he admired you of all people but Nepeta insistent he did). Vriska even went so far to claim that if anyone ever messed with you she’d tear their eyes out and feed them to her lusus (because that was her job).

The acceptance was strange and the knowledge of having eleven trolls, one of them being the heir to the entire fucking empire, behind you was as terrifying as comforting. Never had you expected this and you couldn’t help yourself when you broke down into childish tears as you all promised to look out for one another.

That was when you were six sweeps old.

Now you’ve somehow managed to fill up your quadrants with them. Gamzee had always been your moirail and after the incident you two just became closer. Vriska never ceased pestering you and you somehow fell into a fucked up kismesistude, competing to see who could be the bigger badass (your very existence being a pretty big contributor on your side). Similar to Kanaya you tended to auspisticize between any of your friends before falling between Eridan and Sollux. Those two might have ended up in a disturbing black relationship if you weren’t there to smash their heads together every five minutes. Terezi and you flirted between red and black before Vriska butted her head in. With only red left the two of you fell into it naturally.

Despite having all these wonderful trolls with you, you’re still uncomfortable with the sight of your blood. Only Terezi and Gamzee have been able to make you blush hard enough that your face lights up like a target and only Crabdad and your recuperacoon have seen your tears since the incident.

They encouraged you, telling you over and over that they got your back. Equius even suggested that your change your grey text on trollian to brilliant red. You shouldn’t hide your blood colour, he would argue, it was something to be proud of. To show how STRONG you were to live till now; even if a misstep could still get you killed. After all, they would all be there to make sure you’d make it just like the rest of them.

Only you didn’t want their protection. Not in the way they were offering it. Perhaps your mutation caused your brain to be fucked up too because you had never liked the idea of someone dying, even if they deserved it. You didn’t want them to kill for you, even if it was to protect you. But they could never understand that.  
They could never know the burden of mutant blood. They never had trolls try to kill them just because they got a paper cut. You moved to the lifeless swamp for a reason. The nightmare of seeing Crabdad killing another troll and their lusus just to protect you was a constant reminder. They would never understand what it would be like to be you, just as you could never understand what it was like to be them, and you were fine with that. As long as they were there for you, so you could be there for them, it didn’t matter.

**Author's Note:**

> As per usual the following chapters will take some time to come (if they come at all...). For more information why I post one chapter and then the rest, please check out my profile. Happy readings!


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